Capital Wired

Keeps You Updated

Saturday, April 10, 2021
Log in
  • Headlines
  • Business
  • Health
  • Tech & Science
  • Sports
  • World
  • US
  • Latest News
    • How To Make Your Own Home-Brewed Morphine
    • Using Mouthwash Too Often Puts You at Risk of Obesity and Diabetes
    • Walmart to Solve its Supply Chain Issues and Further Cut Down on Costs
    • The World’s Most Expensive Christmas Decorations
    • Netflix Hopes to Balance Data Limit With Great Video Quality
    • Joji Morishita says Japan Will Resume Whaling
    • The Most Beloved Plastic Surgeries Among Americans
    • Skype for Web Allows Non-Users to Take Part In Its Online Chats

Pages

  • About Capital Wired
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Reprint & Licensing
  • Staff
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Here’s Why Your Brain Keeps Worrying about Everything June 29, 2018
  • Don’t Throw That Sunscreen after Summer Is Up June 29, 2018
  • Analysts: Currency War between U.S. and China Might Be Looming June 28, 2018
  • Starbucks Rival The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Opening 100 Shops June 27, 2018
  • Study Finds We Are Alone in the Universe June 26, 2018
  • Restaurant Owner Not Sorry for Booting Sarah Sanders June 26, 2018
  • Beware of the Hidden Salt in Your Food! June 25, 2018

Digital Hoarding May Become a New Mental Disorder

November 30, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

Digital Hoarding May Become a New Mental Disorder

A 47-year-old man in the Netherlands who takes thousands of digital photos per week and spends a lot of hours each day organising the photos on his computer may have ‘digital hoarding disorder’, according to a recent case report.

Besides digital photos, the man also collects physical objects and has been diagnosed with compulsive hoarding, also referred to as hoarding disorder – a behaviour characterized by the unwillingness or inability or dispose of large quantities of objects.

In the case report – published October 8 in the journal BMJ Case Reports – the researchers wrote that the man’s hoarding habits take place mostly in the digital world where he stores tens of thousands of photos on his four hard drives, and his computer.

Dr. Martine van Bennekom, lead author of the report and a psychiatry resident at the Academic Medical Center in the Netherlands, said that although the man likes taking photos, the whole process of saving and storing the photos causes him a lot of distress and suffering.

Researchers believe that digital hoarding should in fact be categorized as a subtype of hoarding disorder, since it affects people’s lives in a negative way due to the fact that they are unable to let go of digital things. Doctors could then diagnose it and treat it as a mental health condition, Dr. van Bennekom said.

In the case report, the researchers state that if digital hoarding were to become an official disorder, it would be a lot easier for doctors to detect it.

However, not all mental health experts share the same opinion. David Tolin, a clinical psychologist and director of the anxiety disorders centre at the Connecticut mental health centre, The Institute of Living, thinks that it is too early to assume that digital hoarding a disorder, even more so as the current report is based on just one person who already has tactile hoarding disorder.

Tolin added that a lot of people have odd behaviours, but those behaviours do not have to automatically be categorized as disorders. However, he agrees with Dr. van Bennekom on that those who feel distressed and suffer because of their great amount of digital data are indeed hoarders.

Larry Rosen, a psychology professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, said that the 47-year-old man in the recent case report was very much impaired by digital hoarding, but others may not be impaired by these types of behaviours.

According to Rosen, if you happen to have 7,000 unread e-mails but you actually could not care less about them, then you are definitely not a hoarder.

Image Source: The Daily Sheeple

Email, RSS Follow

Rebecca McGhee

Rebecca McGhee is a valuable contributor for several publications and online platforms. Having graduates with a degree in Computer Science, her interest lies mostly in this area. Yet, she finds any tech-related topic or scientific topic is a challenge worth meeting. She enjoys turning her own research projects in worthy contributions that reach the large public. And mostly, she is grateful for all the feedback she receives from readers, as she believes it aids her in permanently improving her style of writing, beyond the scientific style she is accustomed to.

Filed Under: Health

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent Articles

dc logo on black galaxy background

Ava DuVernay to Direct DC’s New Gods Adaptation

March 16, 2018 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

leonardo davinci's signature in black

Is DaVinci’s Record Breaking Painting Authentic?

November 20, 2017 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

stephen hawking

Stephen Hawking Makes Gloomy Prediction For Earth In A 100 Years

May 7, 2017 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

"Dwayne Johnson not dead"

Dwayne Johnson Died this Week or Not

January 19, 2016 By Jason Leathers 3 Comments

There Are At Least Three More Seasons of Game of Thrones To Go

July 31, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Homelessness Soars in L.A., Officials Pledge to House Everybody by 2016

May 12, 2015 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

FBI Releases National Report on Slain Police Officers, Figures are Alarming

May 12, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

New York Nuclear Plant Partially Shut Down due to Hudson Oil Slick

May 11, 2015 By Jason Leathers 2 Comments

Obama Draws Heat from Democrats over Asia Trade Deal

May 9, 2015 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Florida Governor Changes Stance on Obamacare Once More, Budget on Hold

May 9, 2015 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

Secret Service to add an Extra Layer of Spikes to White House Fence

May 8, 2015 By Chen Lai Leave a Comment

Police Arrested Suspect in death of Student who tried to Sell Car on Craigslist

May 8, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen 1 Comment

AccuWeather.com: 2015 Atlantic Tropical Storm Season is Officially Open

May 7, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen Leave a Comment

Illinois Student Found Dead after Trying to Sell his Car on Craigslist

May 7, 2015 By Deborah Nielsen 2 Comments

Related Articles

  • Woman drinking coffee

    Here’s Why Your Brain Keeps Worrying about Everything

    Jun 29, 2018
  • Expiry date on sunscreen bottle

    Don’t Throw That Sunscreen after Summer Is Up

    Jun 29, 2018
  • U.S. President Donald Trump smiling

    Analysts: Currency War between U.S. and China Might Be Looming

    Jun 28, 2018
  • Kitchen salt

    Beware of the Hidden Salt in Your Food!

    Jun 25, 2018
  • Giant Hogweed

    Blindness-Causing Toxic Weed Spotted for the First Time in VA

    Jun 22, 2018
  • Pot leaves

    Pot Users More Sensitive to Pain (Study)

    Jun 22, 2018
  • Fasting diet

    16:8 Diet Can Help You Lose Weight without Hassle (Study)

    Jun 19, 2018
  • Mother and toddler

    Helicopter Parents Can Wreak Havoc on Kids’ Emotional Health, Study

    Jun 19, 2018
  • Young woman getting a tan

    Vitamin D Deficiency Tied to Higher Colon Cancer Risk

    Jun 15, 2018
  • Kitchen towels

    Kitchen Towels Are Breeding Grounds for Disease-Causing Bacteria, Study

    Jun 13, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 capitalwired.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact